39.

Sura Zumar (or The Crowds)

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The revelation of this Book (Qur-an) to you (O Muhammad) is in

Truth, from God, Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom. So serve God, offering
Him your sincere devotion. Worship or service is due to none but Him. And
He wants exclusive devotion. Those who seek their protectors other than God
say that they only serve them inorder that they may bring them nearer to God.
Certainly God will judge between them where they differ. But God does not
guide those who go after falsehood and forget the gratitude and service which
they owe to God, and God alone. If God had willed to choose a son, he could
have chosen whom He had created. But glory to God! He is above such things.
His Unity is the first thing that is to be learnt about Him, as He is Omnipotent.
He requires no creatures to help Him or bring other creatures to Him. He
created the heavens and the earth in true proportions. He causes the Night to
overlap the Day and the Day to overlap the Night. It is He Who has subjected
the sun and the moon to His law: each one follows a course for an appointed
term. Is not He the Mighty, the Forgiver? He created you all from a single
Person and made his mate. He had sent down for you eight heads of cattle in
pairs. He makes you in the wombs of your mothers in stages one after another,
in three veils of darkness. Such is God, your Lord and Cherisher. To Him
alone belongs all Dominion. There is no god but He. How then are you turned
away from your true Centre? If you reject God, He is independent of you He
doesn’t need you. But He does’t like ingratitude from His servants. He likes
those who are thankful to Him. No laden soul will bear another’s load. To your
Lord is your return and then you will come to know the truth of all the things
which you do in this life. For He knows well all that is in men’s hearts. When
some trouble is caused to man, he cries to his Lord in repentance. But when a
favour is bestowed on him from His Lord, he forgets what he cried for earlier
God gave him that. He now sets rivals to God. Thus misleading others from
God’s Path. Such people take pleasure in the blasphemy for a while. Lo! They
will be the Companions of the Fire. Is one who worships devoutly; takes a
serious note of the Hereafter and places his hope in the Mercy of the Lord; and
the one who doesn’t care, those who know and those who do not know – are
those two categories of people equal? But only men of understanding will pay
heed.

Say O Muhammad: “Oh you My servants who believe! Fear your

Lord. Good is the reward for those who do good in this world. Spacious is
God’s earth. Those who patiently preserve will truly receive a reward without
measure! Verily, I am commended to serve God with sincere devotion and I
am commended to be the first of those who bow to God in Islam. I would, if I
disobeyed my Lord, indeed have fear of the Penalty of a Mighty Day. It is God
I serve, with my sincere and exclusive devotion. Then worship what you will
beside Him. Truly, those in loss are those who lose their own souls and their
People on the Day of Judgement. That is indeed the real and evident Loss.
They shall have layers of Fire above them and beneath them. As such God
warn off His servants. Then fear Him”. Those who shun Evil and turn to their
Lord in repentance are the Servants of God. For them is Good News (of His
Mercy and Good Pleasure). So, O Muhammad! Announce the good news to
My Servants. Those who hear the advice and follow the best thereof are the
people of understanding whom God has guided. Would you deliver one from
the Fire who is already steeped in sin and against whom the decree of
Punishment is already passed? But for those who fear their Lord, will lodge in
lofty mansions, one above another, beneath which rivers of delight flow and
God never fail in His Promise. Do you not see how God sends down rain from
the sky and then leads it through springs in the earth? Thereby He causes to
grow various crops and then they wither away and turn yellow and crumble
away. Truly, in this is a Message to men of understanding.

Just as there is spiritual progress for those who seek God, so there is
more and more spiritual retrogression for those who close their hearts to God.
Their hearts get hardened, and they allow less and less God’s Grace to
penetrate within. They are those who are just wandering on the Way, and
cannot walk with the firm steps of those of assured Faith. God has revealed
from time to time (in parts) the most beautiful Message in the form of a
Scripture (wherein promises of reward) are pared (with threats of punishment).
It do creep in the flesh of those who fear their Lord, so that their flesh and
their hearts soften to God’s reminder. Such is God’s guidance. He guides
whom He will. And whom God leaves to astray, for him there is no guide.
They have to taste the fruits of what they have earned. Those before them who
rejected revelation were also punished which awaits them in the Hereafter.
Parables and similitudes are abundantly reflected to teach lessons of spiritual
wisdom clearly. It is in Arabic language for them to understand clearly so as to
receive admonition. Praise be to God. But most of them have no knowledge.
You will all die and on the Day of Judgement all the unexplained things about
which people used to dispute on earth will be made clear in the presence of
your Lord.

Those who tell lies against God and deny the Truth when it has reached
to them, do a greater wrong. Will not the home of disbelievers be in the Hell?
Those who believe in the Truth and support it are the rightful people. When in
the presence of their Lord, they shall be getting whatever they wish for. This
shall be reward for those who do good. God shall forgive them the worst of
their deeds and pay them the reward for the best of their deeds which they did
in their life span. Is not God enough for His Servant? They try to frighten you
(O Muhammad) by others besides Him? There can not be any guide for those
whom God leaves to astray. And whom God guides, no one can ever mislead
him. Is not God Mighty, Able to Requite the wrong? If you (O Muhammad)
ask them: Who created the heavens and the earth? They will surely say:
“God”. Say to them that the things that you invoke besides God – can they
restrain, if God wishes some Penalty or Grace for me? Say to them: “God is
my all. In Him all the trusting people put their trust – Do whatever you can but
I will do my part – Soon you will come to know whom comes the everlasting
doom. Certainly, (O Muhammad) We have revealed to you the Scripture, in
Truth, for the mankind. He who receives guidance benefits his own soul. But
he who strays away injures his own soul. You are not a warder over them in
any way.

It is He who takes the souls at death and of those who are in their
sleep. The souls are returned back to the bodies of the sleeping people and not
returned back of those whose time is over of the life. Lo! In this are Signs for
those who reflect upon these. No one can intercede with God, except those
whom God grants permission. To Him alone belongs the dominion of the
heavens and the earth. In the end you are bound to return to Him. When God,
One and only One is mentioned, those who do not believe in the Hereafter,
their hearts are repelled. But when gods other than He are mentioned they are
filled with joy! Say (O Muhammad): “O God! Creator of the heavens and the
earth! Knower of all that is hidden and open! It is You that will judge between
Your Servants in those matters about which they have differed”. For the
unrighteous ones, even if had all the treasures of the earth plus that much
more, with which to seek to avoid the misery they will be put to on the Day of
resurrection, it shall be definitely in vain. Their misery shall be such that they
can not even imagine. They shall be encircled by that which they used to mock
at in their lives. Now, when a calamity touches man he cries to God for help.
But whe he receives favour from Us, thinks that he has achieved that by his
own wisdom. Verily, this is nothing but a trial which most of the people do not
understand. The generations before them also behaved in that manner, but the
evil results they earned overtook them. The same shall be the plight of these
wrong doers. They will not be able to frustrate the Plan of your Lord. Do they
not know that it is God Who enlarges the provision or restricts it for any He
pleases? Verily, in this are His Signs for those who believe in Him.

Tell the people (O Muhammad) God says: “O My Servants who

transgressed against their souls, despair not of the Mercy of God: for God
forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Turn to your Lord in
repentance and bow to His will, before the Penalty comes on you: after that
you shall not be helped. And follow the best of the courses revealed to you
from your Lord, before the Penalty comes on you – of a sudden, while you
perceive not! – least the soul should then say: Ah! Woe is me! My duty
towards God, and was but among those who mocked! –Or (lest) it should say:
If only God had guided me, I should certainly have been among the righteous!
– Or (lest) it should say when it actually sees the Penalty: If only I had another
chance, I should certainly be among those who do good!” The reply to these
aspirations will be – “NO”. “There came to you My Signs and you rejected
them and the Faith”. On the Day of Judgement, the faces of those people who
told lies will be dark and their abode will be Hell. There shall be salvation for
the righteous. God is the Creator of all things and He is the Guardian and
disposer of all affairs. To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth.
And those who reject the Signs of God, it is they who will be in loss.

Say (O Muhammad to the disbelievers of God): Do you bid me serve

other than God? O you fools! Those who join gods with God, truly fruitless
will be their work in life and they will be among those who lose all spiritual
good. So worship God, and be of those who thank God. They have no esteem
of God as it aught should have been as a matter of His Authority. The whole of
the earth will be a thing that a man might enclose in the hollow of his hand,
nor will the heavens with their vast expanse be more than a scroll, which a
man might roll up with his right hand, the hand of power and action. Glory to
Him! High is He above the Partners they attribute to Him! (On the Day of
Judgement) when the Trumpet will be sounded and all that is in the heavens
and the earth will faint, except those whom God exempt. Then again, it will be
sounded second time, and behold they will be standing nd looking on! And the
Earth (a new Earth) will shine with the Glory of its Lord. The Record of Deeds
of every human being will be placed open. The prophets and the witnesses will
be brought forward. A just decision will be announced on the matters between
them and no wrong will be done with anyone. Every soul will be paid
according to his deeds. God knows best all that they do.

The Unbelievers will be led to Hell and the door-keepers (angels) of

the Hell will say to them: Did not apostles come to you from among
yourselves, rehearsing to you the Signs of your Lord, and warning you of the
Meeting of this Day? Their answer will be in affirmation. They will be told to
enter the gates of the Hell and be their forever. The believers, who feared their
Lord, will be led into the Gardens in crowds and its keepers will welcome
them and say to them that peace be upon them, enter and dwell there forever.
The believers shall celebrate the praises of their Lord, Who fulfilled His
promise and made us to inherit and sojoin the Garden! And you will see (O
Muhammad) angels thronging round the throne of your Lord, hymning the
praises of their Lord. And the cry on all sides will be, “Praise be to God, the
Lord of the Worlds!”